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LEGENDARY

Legendary reminds me of cheesy old horror shows like Hammer House of Horror, just minus the entertaining tongue-in-cheek humour. In other words, Legendary is about as bland as boiled cabbage. You’d think a game that throws you into unfriendly encounters with a myriad of mythical creatures should at least be interesting enough to pique the average gamer’s curiosity. Unfortunately, after the nearly transparent introduction, you’re left wondering what on earth is going on. You play as Charles Deckard, a thief who has been hired to steal Pandora’s Box. But just as you’re about to steal it, your hand is branded with a mysterious ‘signet’. Then all hell breaks loose. By hell, we mean that mythical beasts of every description are unleashed from the infamous box to wreak havoc upon the world. As you’d expect, you get to fight lots of different imaginary beasts like griffons, werewolves, minotaurs and golems. You can also use just about anything you can pick up as a weapon. Additionally, the strange ‘signet’ branded into your hand can be used to collect and store energy called Animus Vitae, which regenerates your health when you’re injured and also doubles as a pretty handy weapon to knock back the beasties. Signet energy appears in the form of blue globes that you collect as you progress through each stage.Deckard’s movement is controlled with the left thumb stick, aiming with the Y button, and shooting with the right trigger. The game information is displayed in a simple enough fashion, with Animus Vitae energy monitored via the left hand indicator. Whenever this gauge flashes, it means you can use the energy you’ve gathered to regenerate your health or attack the marauding minions. As far as shooters go, Legendary lacks the direction and substance needed to keep you truly engrossed and wanting to come back for more. The graphics also look strangely dated for a game that’s relatively new. But, looking on the positive side, at least there are werewolves...